Mega Man X: The Beast Within

Summary: My very first Mega Man X fic. An ancient reploid is uncovered on a dig site. When the Maverick forces find out, chaos ensues. But who, or what, is the enigmatic warrior in black combat armor?

Disclaimer: I do not own Mega Man X. I think Capcom does. I'm just fiddling around with the setting and the characters. I, however, own Cheran, the Knights, the Brotherhoods and the Stormhammer, plus a nice amount of Storm technology.

(--¤¤--) Author's Noter/Review Responses (--¤¤--)

Here we have the second chapter of my first MMX fic. It has been ages since I updated, I know. Sorry for the delay. School sucks.
Not much to say here now.. Except:

Special thanks to BladeDancer, who was the first to review my humble fic. Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

So, let's get on with the show, shall we? The Realm Walker proudly presents:

Mega Man X: The Beast Within

(--¤¤--) Chapter 2 (--¤¤--)

X saw Cain waiting at the landing pad as the glider Alia had sent for them landed. The moment the transport's heavy loading bay door opened, Cain was there.

"Where is he, X?" The old scientist was almost giddy with excitement.

"He's in the cargo bay, Doc. Still unconscious. Zero should be bringing him out any minute now.."

"Hey, Doc! Come check this guy out!" And here he comes..

Zero walked down the ramp, pushing a heavy metal slab before him. It had taken both X and Zero almost half an hour to get the warrior onto the slab- he was extremely heavy, and the thorns of his suit made it hard to get a good grip.

"Alia showed me some of the footage you transmitted her. From what I've seen, this.. this.. reploid is the greatest discovery since you, X. What happened to him?"

"He opened a can of whoopass on old Buckethead and collapsed." Zero chimed in. "You should've seen it, Doc- whatever that gun of his is, it just punched in half of the ride-armor!"

"Not to mention he has some kind of a heavy projectile weapon." X added. "He liquefied a Maverick trooper with a single blast."

Cain nodded thoughtfully. "Did he say who he was? Wait- 'Old Buckethead'? Vile?"

"In the flesh, so to say." X said grimly. "He tried to 'recruit' us. The alternative would have been our execution."

"I thought he was dead.."

"So did we. Vile gloated over us and was just about to kill us when he-" X gestured towards the black-and-copper figure- "When he showed up. He seriously damaged Vile's ride-armor and killed one of the Maverick troopers. When he threatened to do the same to the rest of them, they warped out. Then he just collapsed there. We brought him here for you to see."

Cain glanced over the still figure. "We should get him to my lab. I can't wait to get him under the scanner.."

(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)

The following two hours had X occupied with miscellaneous paperwork. X, however, noticed that it was hard for him to concentrate onto the tasks on hand. He found his thoughts drifting back to the unknown reploid.

"I am Cheran Torr, Third Knight of the Beast from the Brotherhood of the Flame, serving aboard the Allied Federation gigacruiser Stormhammer.." What is the Brotherhood of the Flame? And the Allied Federation? Who are you, Cheran Torr?

X glanced back down onto the papers and noticed that he had signed one of the supply orders "Stormhammer". He stifled a curse and pushed the document into the paper shredder. Ah, crap. I might as well go and check on him..

The first thing X heard when he approached the door to Cain's lab was the old doctor cursing loudly in several languages. Fearing the worst, X barged in Buster cocked.. and saw Cain beating the snot out of one of the technical scanners next to the slab the unknown reploid was lying on.

X blinked. "Uh, Doc? What's wrong?"

Cain gave the heavy piece of equipment a swift kick to the side. "This stupid piece of broken electronics is what's wrong! Where'd you get this thing, Radio Shack?" Just then Cain seemed to realize who he was talking to. "Eh.. you can forget I said that.. What can I do for you, X?"

"Um.. I think Lifesaver got that from Circuit City, actually. I just happened to walk by, and.. well.. I just wondered how you were doing with.."

Cain snorted oddly. "I'd be doing better if I could figure out how to open that tin can! Seriously, X, he's sealed close tighter then Signas' wallet. I've found several places here, here and here.." Cain pointed at some parts of the black armor- "..that look like maintenance hatches, but I can't get them to open."

X nodded. "And that incident with the scanner?"

"I tried to scan him to figure out something of his inner workings, but that metal his suit is made of just reflects back everything. I tried to increase power to the scanner, and the scanner's power cell ran dry.. It was supposed to be brand new!"

"Nevertheless.. have you found out anything about him?"

"Other than one that metal can withstand almost anything I can throw at it and two those thorns are real sharp, nothing sure. The technology of that suit is top-notch, but still it looks old, worn out.. See for yourself."

X took a better look at the still figure. His enhanced optics could immediately pick up dents and scratches in the exterior armor. Cain was right-the shell looked old, like it had seen countless battles over years, but still the weapons it carried were beyond what anyone had ever seen before.

"Like I said," Cain began, "I've nothing sure to tell you, but I have theories. I've found several exhaust ports of some kind on the bulge on his back, and several similar ports near his hip and at the bottoms of his feet. It seems like he is flight-capable.. or at least he has some kind of inbuilt Dash features."

X nodded. "Hey.. If you can't scan him with your equipment, maybe I could try.."

"That would be helpful, X. Try to figure out the power source of that suit- I couldn't get any readings like a functioning generator. I find it hard to believe he would be running off batteries."

X focused onto the fallen Knight- Cheran- and activated his inbuilt sensor pack. Scan initiated..

His view shifted from normal view to thermal sensor readings and to x-ray imaging. Both showed the armor as a shapeless black splotch as his sensors were unable to penetrate the suit. Like Cain had told him, it seemed like the armor simply reflected or absorbed most forms of radiation. X's sensor pack went through a concentrated microwave scan and entered sonar mode. Still nothing. X sighed to himself and increased the power output to the sensors array.

The effect was instantaneous, but not what X had expected. His sensor unit went black as he felt something gnawing at the core of his systems- his micro fusion generator. Power drain on his systems disabled his motoric functions and he fell to his knees. His world went black..

(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)

"X? Wake up, X.."

X groaned and hoisted himself to a sitting position. "Unnh.. What happened?"

Power levels 64 % and rising. All systems green.

"You were scanning that Reploid and just collapsed. You were out for some minutes."

X glanced over the still dormant figure on the slab. "I.. I gave my sensors more power and.. something drained my fusion reactor. Like.. like that suit had.. fed on my energy."

Cain nodded. "That would explain why the scanner lost all power. Maybe it's some kind of a self-defense system designed to prevent unauthorized scans. The scanner was running off a power cell, and it was completely drained in seconds. You, on the other hand, use a reactor producing continuously energy.. which is why you recovered."

Cain's face looked oddly fuzzy, but X's optics soon got their focus back as his reactor fed more power to them. "Damn.. I feel like I just ran the marathon- twice. Maybe we shouldn't try to scan him until he's woken up, Doc- God only knows what kind of other defense systems he has. I don't know about you, but I'd rather keep the base intact."

"Yeah, Doc, though getting crushed by several tons of durasteel might be interesting.. Then again, flat perspective has never been my thing."

Cain shot a glare at the crimson figure at the door. "Zero. How nice of you to drop by. How can the old doctor help you?"

"I actually came to see the Sleeping Beauty there. Signas will be here any minute, by the way. He wanted to have a look at him. Anything new?"

"Other than X and I have figured out how to wake up 'Sleeping Beauty', as you called him, no," Cain answered.

X blinked. "We have?"

(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)

"Tell me again, Doctor, how are you going to do this?"

"It's actually quite simple, Signas. When X tried to scan.. what should we call him? Cheran, wasn't it? When X tried to scan Cheran, his fusion reactor was drained almost dry. Energy doesn't just vanish into thin air, so I'm willing to bet that he somehow absorbed energy from X. We've hooked up a scanner directly into one of our backup generators."

Cain's lab was cluttered with more or less heavy equipment, and even more so now that the slab with the Knight took up even more room. One of the medical scanners had been stripped of its outer cover, revealing complex electronic systems within. A thick cable ran from the back of the device to a humming, barrel-shaped power generator at the back of the room.

"The idea is that when we activate the scanner, Cheran will attempt to 'drain' the scanner, like before. With the generator providing power to the scanner, we'll be able to feed the output of the generator directly into him. Hopefully that will wake him up."

"What if it doesn't?"

"Then we'll hopefully be able to get some decent images with the amped-up scanner."

Signas was silent for some time, as if deep in thought. "I still have my doubts of this, Doctor. What if he does wake up, and begins to attack us? I've seen the records we got of him- I am not sure if even X would be able to subdue him. Are you absolutely sure we should awaken him?"

Cain sighed deep. "That was the same question I asked myself so many years ago, when we found X. I remember standing by that capsule, asking that very question: Should I? You know what came of that decision, Signas. Without that decision, you would not be standing there. With that one decision, there came a great blessing."

Cain sighed again, suddenly seeming weary. "A great gift.. the Reploids. Your kind, Signas, helped mankind as equals. Humanity is in debt to you. But with your blessing we were cursed with Mavericks, plunging Humans and Reploids alike into the shadows. With good, there is always evil. For every pro there is a con. With Reploids came the Mavericks. With him.. I don't know what."

Cain was silent for a long time.

Signas finally cleared his throat. "Well, Doctor? Have you decided?"

Cain nodded. "Yes. I believe we should at least try to awaken him. If for nothing else, then at least for our gratitude. He did help X and Zero, after all."

Cain motioned to one of the technicians working the scanner.

"Begin. Scanner power set to ten percent nominal, with five percent increases every third second."

(--¤¤--) *** (--¤¤--)

At the same time, somewhere far away..

Dark halls adorned with various symbols echoed along the footsteps of the lone Maverick trooper. Chills ran down his artificial spine as he cursed his foul luck. When the time came to report to Sigma of their failure, the trooper and his ten remaining comrades had drawn straws to decide who would have to break the news for Sigma. He had lost.

The hall he was walking down ended in large twin doors decorated with the Greek letter for Sigma decorated with fangs and beastly eyes, the symbol of the Mavericks. His hand trembled slightly as he reached for the large doors. Once more he cursed at his bad luck and at the humans who had decided artificial emotions were a good thing in a Reploid. The Reploid equivalent of adrenaline rushed through his systems, clouding his thoughts.

The doors opened slowly, revealing a large dark room behind. He could barely make out the faint outlinings of a thronelike chair at the back of the room.. and the dark figure on the throne. Two red lights flared into existence where the eyes of the figure would have been, the light reflecting dimly off a red, round gem in the middle of its forehead. Two flames ignited at the sides of the throne, casting dim luminance to upon the room.

"What is it? Where is Vile, trooper?" Sigma asked in a deep, resonating voice.

Sigma was a bald male humanoid reploid suited in dark crimson and black combat armor. His face had two vertical scars right on the eyes, giving him an even more dangerous look. He was strongly built and over six feet tall. He held a long, metal staff in his hands. It was well known that the 'staff' was actually an energy scythe with the properties of a light saber. Sigma was also known to not to hesitate to use the weapon.

The trooper gulped and tried to calm himself down. One wrong word could spell his doom. "Master Sigma.. Trooper 163-E7 reporting as ordered. We just returned from the mission issued to us."

Sigma almost growled in a low voice. "And why do I see a pathetic trooper instead of Vile before me? Did I not specifically instruct Vile to report back to me?"

163 drew nervously breath. "Sigma, sir.. Vile is at the repair bays, undergoing repairs. I was sent here instead of him."

Sigma's eyes narrowed threateningly. "Undergoing repairs? What happened, trooper? Tell me you brought back X and Zero.. or their heads."

"Master.. we had just reached the Hunters when we were attacked. Vile and his Ride-Armor were seriously damaged and one of the troopers was killed."

"WHAT!? How many warriors there were?"

The trooper shrunk back, trying to get some distance between himself and Sigma. "In addition to X and Zero.. one."

Sigma settled back into the throne, growling to himself. "Show me."

The trooper stood next to a large viewscreen next to the doors. He reached towards the controls and a thin cable snaked out from his wrist, attaching itself into the input port on the screen. The screen flickered to life, showing a record from the viewpoint of the trooper.

Sigma watched with interest as the record showed a warrior suited into black and copper armor knock Vile out and destroy one of the troopers as easily as he had crushed an ant.

Sigma's face contorted into a dark grin. "How extensive is the damage to Vile?"

"Vile should be up to full strength in three days, master. Repairing the Goliath Mark Four, however, will require almost three weeks. The damage to the armor was extensive."

Sigma nodded slowly. "When they are ready.. prepare.."

Sigma looked over the image of the black warrior with burning red eyes. "I want that Reploid."

He rumbled lowly to himself. Then he burst into dark, howling laughter that echoed in the throne room, making the trooper cower back in fear.

(--¤¤--) Author's Notes (--¤¤--)

Once again, sorry for the delay. That would be Chapter Two for you, complete with a short glance at the evil mastermind.

How will the Knight react when Cain attempts to awaken him? Is he a friend or foe? What mysteries are concealed under that lethal shell? Answers to these questions will be found in Chapter Three of Mega Man X: The Beast Within!